Bad to the Bone Boxer

by Tui T. Sutherland

  Midori nodded. “Sure, OK,” she said.

  “So I was being like Tombo,” I said. “I was convinced that Rosie was the one person in the world I wanted to be best friends with. I didn’t even think I had other choices, or that I’d want them. But then you came along, and now I know you’re much cooler than her and I just want to be best friends with you instead.”

  For a moment, Midori looked pleased and a little embarrassed. Then a thought flitted across her face and she frowned. “Wait a minute,” she said. “So, in this analogy, Rosie is a leather couch … and I’m a big disgusting cow bone?”

  “Um,” I said. “Hang on, that’s not what I mean. I mean, I mean it in a good way!”

  Midori burst out laughing. “Well, thanks,” she said. “I think.”

  Tombo came bounding over to find out what we were laughing about. He charged right through my pile of leaves — for about the tenth time that morning, I might add.

  “Ack! Tombo! Quit that!” I yelped.

  He stood up on his back paws and waved his front paws at me. I let him put his paws on my shoulders and gave him a hug. He wagged his butt happily and licked the side of my face from my neck to my hairline.

  “Eeek,” I squealed, rubbing my cheek. “Tombo, you’re slobbery.”

  He licked me again, as if he was saying I know, aren’t I fabulous?

  “The only kind of sad thing,” I said to Midori over Tombo’s head, “is that I would have liked to play with Buttons more. She’s pretty cute, even if she’s not as big and goofy as our dogs.”

  “Well, you don’t have to stop being friends with Rosie forever,” Midori pointed out. “Maybe you just need a break from each other for a while. She’ll see that she can’t boss you around, and you find out you can have other friends besides her. Then later when you’ve both cooled off, you can be friends again.”

  “Maybe,” I said. “One day. If there’s something that makes us hang out again, I could maybe see that happening. But you’re my best friend now. That’s not going to change.”

  She ducked her head and smiled.

  “So even if Rosie and I do become friends again,” I said, “she’ll have to put up with two big dogs coming to play, not just mine.”

  “That’d be fun. Chihiro likes little dogs,” Midori assured me. “She’s very gentle with them.”

  “ROARF!” Chihiro barked from across the yard. Tombo dropped to all fours and spun around to look at her. She did a play bow, wagging her tail slowly and giving him a Come and get me face.

  Tombo glanced back at me.

  “Go ahead and play, Tombo,” I said to him, patting his head. “You deserve it. You know why?”

  He wagged his butt like he knew what I was about to say.

  “Because, as I suspected from the beginning, you’re a good dog after all,” I said, and he beamed like I’d just showered him with chew toys.

  I was nervous as we rang the doorbell at the dog’s foster house. The dachshund was really cute in the photo online, but what if he was weird in real life? What if he was hyper or boring or crazy? Or worse, what if he didn’t like me at all?

  Immediately there was a volley of loud, high-pitched barking from inside. It sounded like more than one dog. Mom rubbed her purse strap anxiously. “I hope that’s not our new dog making all that noise,” she joked.

  We’re not used to noisy dogs in our house. Bowser never barks at the doorbell or the mailman or people coming in. At most he’ll stand at the top of the stairs and growl. He only barks sometimes at other dogs, like if he sees them across the street from our yard.

  An old man in a pink plaid sweater vest opened the door and smiled at us. “You must be the Graysons,” he said. “I’m Milton Schwartz — come in, come in.”

  “My name is Aidan,” Aidan announced with a big smile as he stepped inside. “Nice to meet you, sir.” He held out his hand for Milton to shake, so then of course I had to do that, too. Aidan can be a little weird and old-fashioned like that with grown-ups, but Milton seemed to like it.

  “Ruthie, they’re here!” he called. We could still hear barking from the back rooms.

  “Uh — how many dogs do you have?” Mom asked.

  “Seven at the moment,” Milton said. “Three of our own and four that we’re fostering until they find good homes. We just can’t resist their little faces, and since our kids moved out, it sure keeps us busy.” He grinned as his wife came into the room. She had silver hair pinned into a loose bun and a pink tracksuit that matched his sweater vest.

  She was carrying the most handsome dog I’d ever seen.

  “Oh!” Aidan cried, pressing his hands to his chest dramatically.

  The dachshund had floppy brown ears and a long brown body with short fur and little stubby legs. His black eyes were shining and alert, darting from my mom to me to Aidan and back again.

  “We’ve been calling him Chutzpah,” Milton said. The way he said it sounded like “Hoots-pah.” “Ruthie says it’s very appropriate for such a bold, nosy little dog!”

  I looked at Mom and she laughed politely, although I don’t think she completely understood the joke either. It didn’t matter, though; I would definitely be changing his name — just as soon as I thought of one that was perfect for him.

  “Which of you is Charlie?” Ruth asked, smiling at us.

  I waved, and she beckoned me over. We both knelt on the floor and she set the dog down between us. I held out my hand and he sniffed it really thoroughly with his long nose, starting at my fingertips and going down to my wrist and then back up my thumb.

  “Here,” Ruth whispered, passing me a dog treat. “These are his favorites.”

  I held out the treat and his tail swooshed up and started wagging. He looked up into my face and opened his mouth a bit like he was smiling.

  “Sit,” I said. I’d been watching The Dog Whisperer and It’s Me or the Dog nonstop for a week, so I knew you were supposed to make the dog do something to earn its treat each time.

  But the dog just kept looking at me, and Ruth and Milton both laughed. “Good luck with that!” Milton said. “We’ve been trying for a month and it’s pretty much impossible to teach him anything.”

  “Impossible?” Mom said in a worried voice.

  “Oh, but he’s house-trained!” Ruth reassured her. “We figured that was the most important thing.”

  “Sure,” Mom said. “Yes. True.” She tucked a strand of red hair behind her ear and studied the dog.

  The dachshund’s tail was still wagging. His sharp black eyes were fixed on the treat now. I didn’t know what else to do, so I just gave him the treat. His ears flapped as he chomped it down and then licked my fingers.

  “Dachshunds are like that,” Milton added. “Stubborn, but very cute.”

  “And very loyal,” Ruth said. I liked the sound of that. I wanted my dog to be loyal to me more than anything.

  The dachshund suddenly took a step forward and planted his front paws on my knees. He leaned up toward my face with his tail wagging.

  “Wow,” Milton said. “He likes you!”

  “He’s usually much more nervous around strangers,” Ruth said admiringly.

  I grinned at the dog. Slowly, so I wouldn’t startle him, I reached out and stroked his smooth head and back. His tail wagged even harder. His fur was short and a little oily under my fingers. I felt like I could sit there and pet him forever.

  “This looks like a match to me!” Ruth proclaimed.

  Milton started talking to my mom about the paperwork while Ruthie went to get a bag of things for the dog. I scratched behind the dachshund’s long, shiny ears. He pulled himself all the way into my lap and sat down.

  “Can I say hi?” Aidan asked suddenly from behind me, and the dog and I both jumped. Without waiting for an answer, Aidan was already reaching for the dog’s face. “Hi dog! Can I hug him, please, can I?”

  “I don’t think he’d like that,” I said, trying to shift away from Aidan’s grasping hands.

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nbsp; “I just want to hold him,” Aidan said. He leaned around me and reached for the dog again.

  Suddenly the dachshund went “RARF! RARF!” very loudly right in Aidan’s face.

  Startled, Aidan jumped back and fell over on his butt. The dog wriggled around in my arms, licked my neck, and looked back at Aidan like, Yeah, and stay out!

  I was afraid Aidan would start crying, but I guess he was too surprised to cry. I mean, pretty much no one ever yells at him, and usually animals love him. I felt a little bad about the bewildered look on Aidan’s face, but I also felt a terrific explosion of happiness inside me. The dog had chosen me over sweet, adorable Aidan. That never happened.

  “Everything OK here?” Mom asked, coming back over to us.

  “Yup,” I said, rubbing the dog’s head. “Everything’s perfect.”

  I had no idea how wrong I was.

  In addition to the New York Times- and USA Today-bestselling Wings of Fire series, Tui T. Sutherland is the author of several books for young readers, including the Menagerie trilogy, the Pet Trouble series, and three books in the bestselling Seekers series (as part of the Erin Hunter team). In 2009, she was a two-day champion on Jeopardy! She lives in Massachusetts with her wonderful husband, two adorable sons, and one very patient dog. To learn more about Tui’s books, visit her online at www.tuibooks.com.

  Copyright © 2010 by Tui T. Sutherland.

  All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Inc.

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  First printing, August 2010

  Cover photo by Michael Frost

  Cover design by Yaffa Jaskoll

  e-ISBN 978-0-545-35695-4

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